Members: Your vote matters!
Help us get at least 1,500 votes
Cascade Bicycle Club belongs to its 14,000+ members, and Cascade’s staff and board want you to be involved. In the past, club ballots have been largely a rubber stamp. Last year, less than 5% of the membership voted. During this year’s contested election, your vote will determine how the club is governed. And our goal is to double voter turnout.
The ballot for this October’s election includes nine candidates running for the four open board positions and a change to the by-laws. Your ballot must be postmarked by Oct. 11. Learn more and meet the candidates in person at the Annual Membership Meeting or the Board Candidate Forum, both coming up soon. Please exercise your voice, be informed, and vote! [more…]
Meet the candidates in person:
- Board Candidate Forum
Thursday, Oct. 6
7 to 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
Mountaineers Office, Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle
- Annual Membership Meeting
Tuesday, Oct. 11
7 to 8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
REI Seattle, 222 Yale Ave. N, Seattle
I see there is an in-person candidate forum on 10/11. I feel obliged to remind CBC that they can also use the internet to hold a candidate forum. That includes this blog and Cascade’s own forums. I raised this option numerous times prior to the last election, and heard all kinds of reasons not to including “some members don’t have internet”. Mostly, there was the sound of silence from those with the ability to make it happen. I don’t expect anything new this time around. Please make up some fresh excuses. Points will be given for originality. If you don’t work to engage membership, they won’t vote. If you don’t use available means to engage membership it’s a clear sign you’re not interested in doing so.
Eric,
Thanks for the comments –
Tell me more about the hows and whats of an online forum for candidates would look like? (if you have done this in detail previously, then forgive my inability to recall the details of what you proposed, if you did)
A couple of dedicated times when all candidates are on online and forum participants can ‘chat’ with them?
Candidates sitting in a room with a cam and have Q and A online?
A forum with a moderator and questions (a la debate) that gets filmed, then distributed via the web?
As a candidate for the last Board election, and now a Board member, I was asked questions by a number of CBC members – they were asked of all Board members – and then some of the askees did publish those responses on forums. It sounds like your idea would be for Cascade to set up a specific forum and ask members (and others) to ask questions, then candidates would respond in turn, or in response to each other?
No one at Cascade or on the Board has any interest in limiting member ability to be engaged in the elections process, or voting on bylaws changes. A plus this year is actually having a candidate’s forum prior to the actual election date – I am going to ask CBC staff if there is a way to film this and make it available on the web, or perhaps there is a way to make it live, with online questions? I understand having a physical forum requires attendance, compared to electronic methods for back and forth.
The more I think of this, this is an area where an engaged group of CBC member/volunteers could drive the process, and create the framework for internet forums – more than offering suggestions, actually get involved and do the work to make it happen. I understand this is unlikely to happen this year, but what about next? You are absolutely correct that we need to use the internet as well as we can for member engagement –
Kevin Carrabine, CBC Board member
Hi Keith:
Thanks for stepping forward. Here’s the logistics of doing it NOW!
Use the Cascade Bike Talk message Board because it’s the most visited of the message boards.
http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/categories.cfm?catid=5
Start a new post titled : Q&A with Board Candidate Jane Flamingo
“Hi: My name is Jane Flamingo and I’m running for a position on the board. My position statement is below. If you have any questions you’d like to ask or issues to bring to my attention, please post them here and I’ll reply here for all to see. My position statement is below. (copy and paste candidate statement here).”
Each candidate does that. Cascade then publishes the LINK to the BIKE TALK forum on its home page, blog (must stay at top for visibility), on its other message board pages in a prominent place with a short description: CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE Q&A WITH BOARD CANDIDATES.
Post same on Cascade Facebook page.
It’s that simple, requires no new technology, investment, or know-how. A handful of us use this message board for discussions all the time and have been doing so for years.
I don’t see this as a debate, but rather a Q&A. This serves to educate boardmembers and candidates about issses and concerns they may have never considered.
If Cascade doesn’t make a better effort to engage, involve, and dialog with its members, it will be to the organization’s detriment. Those of us with opinions are activists or activists in the making, pushing for the same goals that Cascade claims to be working for. By not involving us in a meaningful way, the organization is at risk of alienating a powerful ally. We’re the ones on the street every day, riding, commuting, setting an example, and talking to whoever will listen about bike safety and the need for infrastructure improvements.
From a PR point of view, organizations that do not communicate and/or think that by not responding to concerns the concerns will go away, are 100% wrong. In the absence of information, rumor and innuendo can fill the void. The last board failed due to its misguided efforts to control and manage communication.
Cascade management heard exactly what I’m saying here prior to the last board election. They have chosen to not take this path. I know my concerns are shared by other active members. My recommendations could easily be enacted this weekend. If board candidates are too busy to participate in this, then perhaps they are too busy to be on the board.
Prior to the last election, Cascade management published the email addresses for candidates so members could have one-on-one Q&A with them. How that engages more members of a 14,000 member organization is beyond me. I emailed all candidates, but received replies from only about half. Some of the ones who did not reply, veritable no-shows, were elected anyway.
If Cascade management is not interested in engaging members in a meaningful way, and does not care if only a handful of members vote, then please be honest about that and don’t claim:
Members: Your vote matters! Help us get at least 1,500 votes
Cascade Bicycle Club belongs to its 14,000+ members, and Cascade’s staff and board want you to be involved. In the past, club ballots have been largely a rubber stamp. Last year, less than 5% of the membership voted. During this year’s contested election, your vote will determine how the club is governed. And our goal is to double voter turnout.
Eric Shalit, just riding along
I agree with Eric 100%. Nothing fancy is required. Simple postings would be GREAT. Who has the time and energy to go to Magnuson Park after work? Having that event the only way to interact ensures that only the retired, the fanatical, and those living in NE Seattle get a chance to find out more about the candidates.
Sorry Kevin for calling you Keith. Keith Carradine on the brain. The message boards allow you to edit your comment after posting, which the blog does not. Another plus for the message boards.
I HATE that when I get mistaken for Keith Carradine…
If you are unable to make the in-person candidate meetings, you can still meet the candidates on the Cascade forums here: http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/categories.cfm?catid=25
Reading the forums is open to anyone, but if you want to post, you must first join the forums: http://www.cascade.org/Community/forum/reg.cfm